Action Aplenty In The Super Series

Words: Dan McCarthy. Photos: John Morris

Day 2 of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series saw no shortage of on track action in all five categories.

TA2 Muscle Car Series

The TA2 Muscle Car Series contested three races in what was a busy Saturday, one race was for the regular drivers, one for the co-drivers and then an endurance race to end proceedings.

For Race 1 pole sitter and series leader Josh Haynes made a good start but was muscled out wide exiting Turn 1.

Tom Hayman made his way into the lead, but the contact on exit allowed Brad Gartner to take second position.

On lap 2 keen to make up for lost time Haynes quickly and effectively made his way up and into second place and set about catching leader Hayman.

It did not take him long as Hayman rolled to a halt with a mechanical issue and resulted in the safety car being called for the first time.

On the restart with four laps to go Gardner was all over the rear bumper of Haynes but could not find a way past his title rival. Despite his best efforts came home in second, fading to finish 2.5s behind race winner Haynes.

Third went the way of the ever-consistent Graham Cheney ahead of Nicolas Bates and Mark Crutcher.

Race 2 for the co-drivers saw Tim Brook pinch the lead off Jarrod Hughes into Turn 1 and in the early laps pulled a margin.

The fight from third backwards was fierce between Todd Hazelwood, Jordan Cox, Elliot Barbour and Zach Bates, but out-front Hughes began to edge closer to race leader Brook.

On lap 7 he caught him and bided his time until an opportunity presented itself. He eventually made the move at Turn 17 on lap 8.

Hughes would go on to take the win by 2.5s from Brook, Cox held on to third ahead of Barbour, Bates and Hazelwood.

Unfortunately, the endurance race started with a bang… literally.

Three into one didn’t work at Turn 3 and title contender Gartner was spun 90 degrees to the racetrack before behind collected by four TA2 machines.

The multi-car wreck caused the race to be red flagged for nearly 20 minutes as the battered and bruised race cars were sent back into the pits as the track was cleaned up.

This meant that when the race restarted it was cut back to nine laps, with the compulsory pitstop to be completed between laps 4 and 6.

The order on the restart was Haynes, Cox, Hazelwood, Barbour, Zach Bates and Hughes.

At the end of lap 5, Cox, Haynes, Barbour and Bates all pitted, while Hazelwood, Hughes and Hayman stayed out an extra lap.

When the sequence was completed the #169 machine - vacated by Hazelwood and now with Josh Thomas at the wheel - led the field, however exiting the pits he locked up and flew off the road at Turn 1.

This allowed Haynes and Hayman through, and they commenced a tough fight for the win.

Hayman closed lap on lap, a tenth here and a tenth there, but in the end he could not force Haynes into an error.

Haynes who was co-driverless took the win in the shortened enduro, while Hayman came from the very back of the field to finish in second, in possibly the drive of the season.

Thomas/Hazelwood were third ahead of Tyler Cheney/Hughes, and the Des Collier/Elliot Barbour combination which rounded out the top five.

Australian Drivers’ Championship

Reigning champion Damon Sterling and rookie Brad Vaughan shared the wins in the Australian Drivers’ Championship.

Pole sitter Lucas Stasi qualified on pole position and led the opening laps of the first race, however his engine expired on lap 3. This forced him out of the race and resulted in the deployment of the safety car.

On the restart Vaughan and Hayden Crossland were both able to get by Sterling using the slipstream to great affect into Turn 1.

Into Turn 6 Niko French attempted to demote Sterling down another spot but locked the rears and spun, forcing Sterling to take evasive action. French fell to the back of the field, while Sterling dropped several places.

Out front Vaughan on debut took the win, second went to Crossland, while Dean Crooke held off Sterling by 0.1s.

Race 2 was a tamer but still an exciting affair, Vaughan led into Turn 1 from Crooke and Sterling, while Crossland was demoted to fourth.

Sterling and Crossland were the fast men of the race, they easily dispatched of Crooke and then Vaughan, before engaging in their own battle for victory.

Sterling set the lap record and the win by 1.2s from Crossland, while Vaughan rounded out the top three.

Legend Cars Australia

The two wins in Legend Cars Australia went the way of Lachlan Ward, however, behind the fighting for second back was as intense as ever.

Ward took pole position, but with the huge headwind down to Turn 1 he was shuffled back down the field.

Out of Turn 6 Aiden Williams led the way from Lincoln Pope and Ward.

By the start of lap 2 Ward had made his way back to the front and quickly pulled a margin allowing Williams and Pope to scrap for second.

On lap 3 exiting Turn 14 Askr Sendall and Kyle Murphy came to a stop in separate incidents and resulted in the deployment of a safety car.

It was a one-lap sprint to the finish in which Ward took the win from Pope who made his way by Williams into Turn 1, the latter held onto third.

Race 2 again saw the field shuffled on the run towards Turn 1, Riley Skinner from fifth actually led out of Turn 1 ahead of Dylan Thomas. At the end of the first sector Ward sat in third place.

By Turn 13, just a sector later Ward had made his way to the front and took off into the distance.

Ryan Pring followed him into second, while Pope, Skinner and Williams duelled for third.

The trio were three wide starting the final lap of the race. Out front Ward won from Pring, Skinner held on to third by 0.05s from Pope and Williams.

Formula RX8

Formula RX8 saw the title protagonists Brock Paine and Robert Boaden continue their fight at the front of the field. Both victories went the way of Paine, but it was not plain sailing.

Away from the line at the start of Race 1 Boaden made a good initial launch but bogged down allowing Paine to hold the lead into Turn 1.

Boaden dropped back a couple of places but by the end of lap 2 he had recovered to third on the tail of Brad Harris.

In the middle sector of the third lap Boaden made his way by Harris and attempted to catch the race leader, but he could not match him.

Paine took the win by over 5s from Boaden and Harris, one of the notable movers was local South Aussie Ivan Vantagianto who came up from the back of field to position eight.

Race 2 saw both drivers on the front row struggle to get away from the line and allowed Harris to take the lead in the first sequence of corners, Boaden was second while Paine recovered on lap 1 back into third.

Paine was a man on a mission and made light work of Boaden on lap 2.

By lap 4 Paine was on the tail of Harris and briefly took the lead at Turn 1, before Harris snatched the place back.

Heading into Turn 6 however, Harris could not slow his RX8 up and fired off the road before retiring the car.

Out from Boaden applied the pressure to Paine, but it was all in vain. Paine took his sixth straight victory ahead of Boaden and Justin Lewis.

Super TT

Blake Tracey was the dominant force in the Australian Super TT Championship today, he took pole position and cruised to victory in the categories sole race.

Driving his BMW E36, the driver from New South Wales finished an incredible 35s clear of the field.

Corey Gillett may have qualified third, but he took second into Turn 1 and never relinquished the position.

The S13 driver beat home Ford Falcon XR6 driver Brent Edwards by a margin of just over three seconds.

Ryan Bell finished fourth overall and first in the treated tyre over two-litre class, while Michael Ricketts in his Nissan Pulsar won the under two-litre class.